Letter to my MP James Plaskitt | Fourth Way Option for Council Housing

James,

Further to my recent e-mail, I am writing about Housing and the desperate housing need in Warwick & Leamington. I come across many people, as do you, who need a roof over their head. This I believe is a fundamental human need and a current failing of the Labour goverment. At last year's Labour Party conference, the fourth way option for council housing was debated and the delegates voted for it, but nearly a year on, the current government policy has not changed. In your constituency, there is not enough social rented housing and the housing associations are not doing enough to house those on the waiting list, let alone those who do not have enough points to even be considered, forced to be exploited by private landlords who greedily charge more and more, that is if you pass the credit checks.

I believe there is the current EDM 48 Future of Council Housing, which I do not believe you have signed. (Below)

That this House supports the proposal from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Select Committee for an investment allowance to create a level playing field for council housing and enable local authorities to finance borrowing under the prudential framework to meet the Decent Homes Standard as an alternative to the Government's three current options of stock transfer, private finance initiative and arm's length management organisations; shares the concerns expressed in the critical reports by the Public Accounts Committee and the National Audit Office on the cost-effectiveness of stock transfer; believes that a fourth option, allowing councils to improve their own stock, can be funded by re-investing all the income from tenants' rents, capital receipts and savings on expensive set-up costs; notes the broad consensus of support from tenants, the Local Government Association and local authorities, the TUC and trade unions for the fourth option; welcomes the recognition by the Deputy Prime Minister on 26th September that `public financing of housing doesn't treat local authorities on a level playing field and I want to see that changed and I promised to do that and look at an inquiry into it'; and urges him to stand by this promise so that tenants can have a real choice, councils can compete on a level playing field and the public housing stock can be repaired, refurbished and expanded to make its contribution to the growing need for public rented housing, instead of wasting millions to give it away.

I would like to ask you to persue with vigour as a government minister and constituent MP the fourth way option for council housing, as it is the only way there can be enough housing built for people in this area, where house prices are out of reach to many.

The current situation cannot continue, where "exclusive" and "luxury" new builts are slipping under the 24 units rule of Warwick District Council. Please help home people in need by supporting local authorities to raise capital to home people affordably.

Thanks

Paul Bell